The High King: A Tale of Alus (10 page)

"I would give myself to you. Will you be my husband though we cannot declare it so?"
His hand softly touched her delicate cheek and slid his fingers along its edge to the graceful curve of her neck. He traced the ridge of her collar bone to her shoulder. Gerid put both hands upon her shoulders, even as he felt the woman within his grip. He smiled and replied, "Gladly will I swear, if only you will become my wife." Leaning forward, he let his lips brush the skin of her cheek. Pushing aside her hair, he kissed her neck.
Her fingers worked at his shirt, and soon the couple lay together. Playfully they experimented and discovered the uniqueness of their love. It was their first timid acts of love that did not culminate until late into the night.
Pulling his shirt near without disturbing her, Gerid covered Tabitha as she slept with him. He couldn't help but let a smile play at the edges of his lips as he looked at this woman that he adored.
One sad thought he let into this celebration. He wished that his family could still be alive and know of their love.

Days passed and then weeks. His relationship with Tabitha bolstered him as he worked towards a day where he could win their freedom. It was no longer just about him though. They talked of such things every once in awhile. He thought of them occasionally and tried to live for the time that they had together. Their love for each other pushed aside such worries of leaving for the time being, though Gerid knew that he would need to leave and take her with him somehow one day.

Gerid found himself returning to the barn to finish feeding the horses one morning when he noticed the filtered shadow of a woman through the doorway. Her voice carried to him almost musically from those shadows, "So you are the great warrior that my brother has been pouting about these past weeks?"

He looked up bewildered. The young woman wore a satiny dress of the deepest blue. Stepping out of the shadows slightly, the sunlight seemed to cascade around her lithe form creating a corona about her as if her presence eclipsed that of the sun. With long brown hair and mischievous green eyes, her beauty quickly made itself known.

"Excuse me, mistress? Do I know you?" he questioned with wary politeness.
A lilting giggle was his first response. "You answer correctly already. I am Catiya Holtein, of course," she replied as if her name should have been quite obvious to anyone. "Normally I don't come down here, mind you, but I have heard so much about the great Slave Warrior Gerid that I just had to come down and see you for myself." She stepped towards him looking as if she were appraising a new horse. Laying a soft hand on his sweaty chest, she nodded with a smile that sent chills along his spine. "Yes, you seem strong enough," Catiya sighed silkily. "Do you have as much stamina as I have heard though?"
"Excuse me?" the young man asked in confusion as he took a step back from her touch.
The beautiful woman reached for a broach clasp near her throat. With a click of its catch, it was undone and, with its release, the soft material of the gown floated swiftly to the girl's ankles. "Off with your pants," she ordered.
Gerid stumbled backwards from the shock caused by the unpredictable antics. "What?" he cried startled.
"Strong, but stupid, I fear," Catiya sighed with a shake of her head starting a slow cascade of brown hair behind her. The movement caused her jeweled necklace to glitter around her neck. The large, clear stone that the golden chain supported rolled provocatively between her firm, full breasts. The girl's endowments rivaled those of his beloved Tabitha, Gerid thought, before he realized suddenly that he was staring. "Come on. Get them off," the temptress said again impatiently. "I've been looking for the right man to have fun with, so let's see what you can do for me. Get them off or I'll have you punished for disobeying me," she added trying to sound imperious.
He couldn't help himself. A burst of laughter rolled out of him nearly bringing tears to his eyes. "Mistress, why would you want me? I am only a slave. We don't even know each other. This shouldn't happen and we both know it."
The girl was taken aback at his rebuff. "You don't want me?" Catiya half whispered before she could recover her composure. In sudden anger, she retorted, "You don't have a choice. We own you. Do it or I'll have you punished!" The beauty was half pouting despite her anger.
With a shake of his head, he returned, "If I knew you enough to love you, I wouldn't hesitate, my lady, but your threats are nothing compared to what your father would do to me should I do this or heaven forbid I get you pregnant as well. A slave getting his youngest daughter pregnant? My life would be over quickly, don't you think? Your punishments would be preferable, I think."
She screamed incoherently with her rage. "This isn't fair! I am the Mistress Holtein! You should do what I say!"
Gerid moved aside and sat down on a hay bale that he would have to use later to feed the horses. The young man set aside the pitchfork that he had been using earlier as he did so. "Your offer is truly appreciated, my lady, but why would you want to waste such a sacred thing this way? Are you truly so bored with the suitors that are surely beating at your door? One so lovely and blessed with such charms should have no reason to waste herself on such as I, a mere slave," he stated sincerely enough as he praised her.
The girl blinked her green eyes in confusion. Standing bare and bronzed before him with such a look of perplexity on her face, Gerid almost laughed again. "You think that I have charm and beauty?" Catiya came and sat beside him on the hay bale. She made a face at the ricks’ roughness, but crossed her legs and turned slightly towards him despite the discomfort. "Do you truly believe so?" her voice deepened with a seriousness of emotion that surprised him.
"Of course, my lady," he answered. Gerid nearly choked as the sweetness of her perfume as it suddenly hit him and threatened to overwhelm his senses with her sensuality. The young woman was so comfortable in her nudity that she became all that much more intriguing.
Catiya sighed deeply. The new movement of her breasts drew his eyes unwillingly again. The tease noticed and gave a confident smile. "Your attentions flatter me, Gerid. You are wrong, however. I have no suitors. My older sister, Sama, has that opportunity alone. My father refuses to show me forth until Sama is married. Other than those in my household, I am unable to truly meet anyone else. I may as well be imprisoned here!" she exclaimed in renewed aggravation and throwing out her hands.
"Truly?" he asked in surprise. "I can't believe that no man has found some way to find you."
The pretty girl shrugged. Catiya watched his attention falter from her face again with a smile. The girl placed her arm upon his shoulder and leaned against him. Her left breast tickled against his arm with its warmth. The man was sweating now as he sat stiff backed. "Of course, I've never found one that I was ever interested in, especially with as few men as I have met, Gerid," she breathed like the flutter of silk across his skin. "You are the closest that I have ever found to being what I want."
He looked directly at her green eyes and hoped that his panic did not show. "Is this the way that you get to know them, Catiya? It's not without its merits, but how can you fall in love this way? You should talk with them and learn about them, if you want to find love."
The girl stood up though he doubted that his words had affected her. Turning to face him again, she placed a knee on either side of his legs and draping her arms atop his shoulders, Catiya sat into his lap. Gerid leaned back slightly as he tried futilely to draw away. She leaned into him and he became painfully aware of her bare body as she rested on him. The beautiful girl stretched slowly like a cat and kissed his lips tenderly even as her breasts slid along his chest. "All right, talk," she said huskily. "But hold me, please?" Catiya half cried as the temptress slid against him trying to soften his resolve.
Unable to resist her fully, Gerid sat forward. Catiya moved back into his lap as he did so and the young man hugged her gently. A shiver ran through him as a new fear moved into him. He couldn't believe that he could feelings for this woman. The panic of realizing that he could potentially fall for someone like Catiya, when Gerid had never loved before Tabitha, nearly
overwhelmed him with panic. "Could you, please, put your clothes back on, mistress?" he asked weakly through his gritted teeth.
Leaning back slowly, she easily broke free of his numbed grasp. Catiya bent down and retrieved her dress even as she kept her eyes on his face. The girl tilted her head at him in confusion. "You do want me, don't you?" the temptress whispered with that silkiness she could bring forth so well. "Why do you resist your own feelings? You don't have some lover from your days before you were sold to us that you are trying to honor, do you?"
Gerid was unable to answer.
Catiya slipped her dress back on somewhat reluctantly. Brushing off the hay, she stood up straight to look back at him. "I don't understand you, Gerid, but I think that I just may wish to. Maybe you are right, after all. Forcing you isn't what I really want. Maybe what I really need is a friend," she decided though her eyes still betrayed a longing. "I will see you later though," the girl added and Gerid knew that it was a promise. She bent forward then to kiss his lips and turned to leave him staring after her.

The summer passed quickly for Gerid in service to the Holtein's. There always seemed to be work to do somewhere on their vast holdings. For Gerid, that meant all the usual chores of a farmer, working the fields, tending flocks of sheep or one of the herds of cattle, maintaining buildings and keeping irrigation channels open. All the countless duties provided happily by Leoltus to occupy most of his time.

It seemed as if he rarely had any real spare time in his day. There was also Catiya after all. The young woman and he had indeed become close friends. Often Gerid found the girl would come to watch him work and talk with him about almost anything that they could think of. The amount of time spent together was quickly noticed by the entire household and soon Gerid found that he was being assigned jobs that would leave him free to be with her alone. What little free time the young man found as he worked seemed to find Catiya there invariably to share it with him. This attention did not sit well with Tabitha.

His lover rarely made mention of Catiya, but a few times her anger overwhelmed her as they spent a night together. She knew that, as slaves, they could do little to stop the whims of their mistress, but that didn’t matter. He also reminded her that Catiya had not tried to force herself on him since that first day and Gerid had never hidden that awkward moment from the woman he loved. Catiya had truly become a friend despite the start of their relationship. He could see the loneliness that their time together alleviated for the young woman and Gerid hated to tell Tabitha, but he was glad to help her also.

Near the end of the summer things suddenly changed for them. Tabitha was noticed by Sama, the eldest daughter of the Holteins, and called to be a handmaiden for her at the house. Her beauty and the poise with which she carried herself had made her a natural choice. Still if Gerid had believed that Catiya actually knew of his relationship with Tabitha, he would have accused the girl of trying to separate the lovers out of spite. Being in the main house under the watchful eyes of all those there, easily stood in their way now.

Catiya had noticed Gerid's uneasiness the very next day after the assignment as she joined him in the fields. He was there to care for one of the flocks of sheep that Holtein possessed that day. "Is something wrong with you, Gerid?" the young woman asked as she crossed the hill to sit beside him on a fallen log that the shepherd had taken for his seat. "You seem uncharacteristically quiet this afternoon."

He shook his head and forced himself to tear his brooding stare away from the sheep below them. Looking at the woman wearing the tunic and breeches that were customary of a commoner, Gerid wondered if she was trying to hide her true knowledge of his misfortune behind a face covered in innocence. "I am sorry, Catiya. I am a bit distracted today, I'm afraid."

The girl stood again and strolled slowly behind him. She leaned forward to rest her arms upon his shoulders as he sat upon the log. Moving her head forward over her arms, the girl tilted her head to look at him with concern from the side of his face as she began to massage his shoulders. Her auburn hair swept forward to brush his neck with a tickle, as she sighed sadly, "What is bothering you so, my friend? Please, tell me that I might help you."

He turned to find her sparkling green eyes questioning him silently with the concern showing sincerely there. As her breaths caressed his cheek in steady waves of warmth, Gerid wondered how he could possibly worry that she would seek to cause him such trouble. "I am not sure that I can tell you about this. It is kind of a difficult matter to discuss."

Taking a deep breath, Gerid decided to carefully try and tell her the truth, "There is no easy way to talk about this, but I'll try. There is someone that I love and I am separated from her."

A mixture of feelings flashed across her face as she tried to decipher the exact meaning of what he had said. "Are you speaking of your family or is there someone else that maybe you love even deeper than blood?" the beauty asked worriedly and drew back slowly from him.

As Catiya moved to sit on a large rock in front of him, the worry showing in her face, he replied carefully, "Though the loss of my family worries my heart greatly, it is a more recent love of the latter kind that now seeks to sadden me."

"A slave woman, I would guess?" she asked turning to gaze at the sheep below them to hide her feelings from him.

He nodded silently though she could not see the act and Gerid answered determinedly, "There is a woman that I have come to love here on the holdings. Maybe one of the servants has even told you? We have tried to keep our love as quiet as possible, but I know that many know and others can guess."

The beautiful young woman shook her head and sighed, "No, I had not known. I have not heard of any deaths recently, so what has happened? Where is the girl now?"